New Beginnings
by acidictae
Summary: There's a new ladybug in town, and she does not want to be there. (All Valentine Rodriguez wanted to do was pass high school and care for her mother but there she was hanging upside down from the Eiffel tower face-to-face with Hawkmoth himself.)
1. Chapter One

**New Beginnings -** Prologue

Valentine stares at the door of her new apartment, her stomach churning and the stress headache she'd had on the train ride beginning to return.

"It was for the best love." Her mom's voice comes from behind her, "That old place was filled with bad memories."

Valentine's bright red ponytail swishes behind her as she turns around to face her mother, Leia. The younger bends down and hugs her mother, burying her face into her mother's neck so that the older couldn't see the tears that were forming on Valentines lash line.

"Well?" Leia releases her daughter from the hug after a few minutes, "I'm not going to push myself in."

The redhead snorts at her mother, "There are wheels on it for a reason."

"But my arms hurt." Leia whines, trying to lighten the mood. "You're really going to make your sick mother use her own wheelchair?"

Valentine smiles at her mother before opening the door and wheeling her mother into the apartment.

* * *

After three hours of blood, sweat and (mostly) tears Valentine finally finished building most of the furniture for the new apartment. She was screwing the final hinge into her desk drawer when her mom called her from the living room.

"Val? The taxi is here. We can't be late for my hospital check-in."

The red-headed girl exits her bedroom to see her mom trying to lift herself off of the couch. Seeing her mother struggling Valentine runs over, with ease she helps Leia stand up and then gently lowers her into the wheelchair.

Despite her mother hating using it, both of the girls loved the wheelchair. When Leia had been told that she had to remain in the wheelchair for a minimum of six months, she had put on a brave face in front of the doctor though when that night when they got home, and Lei assumed her daughter was asleep, she had cried for three hours non-stop. Valentine didn't know what to do as she sat outside her mom's closed bedroom door and listened to the sobs. All she had wanted to do was go in and hug her mother but due to the chemotherapy, her mom had tried to hide herself from her daughter as much as possible.

It was four in the morning when an idea came to Valentine. She had snuck into her mother's room as carefully as she could and laid it out in the living room of their old home. The redhead began to paint the back of the wheelchair as carefully as she could. When her mother left her room that morning she was greeted with the sight of 'Almond Blossom' by Vincent Van Gogh painted beautifully. Leia had broken into tears again, but this time from happiness.

Valentine smiles fondly at the memory but is snapped out of it when her mother grumbled, "I can do some things for myself."

"I know mama, I just want you to be as safe as possible."

* * *

Valentine returns to her apartment that night, the overwhelming sense of loneliness taking hold of her. When they still lived in Saint-Malo she would stay with friends if her mother had to stay in the hospital overnight but in Paris, she didn't know anyone.

The time on her phone read that it was only seven thirty. This meant Valentine had to do something that she had become quite good at over the past year, keeping herself busy. She went around the house collecting articles of clothing that really weren't even that dirty and walked to the laundromat she had noticed on her walk home from the hospital. As she was deciding between lemon or lavender scented detergent an old man she hadn't notice walk in let out a loud sigh.

"Are you okay?" Valentine doesn't bother to turn around but felt compelled to ask.

"I'm just a few dollars short." The man replies.

Valentine digs into her pocket and pulls out the money she was going to do her laundry with and gives them to the man without saying anything, "You can do yours, my clothes can wait another day."

With that, she picks up her washing basket and leaves without a 'goodbye'.

"Are you sure she is the right person?" A voice appears once Valentine was out of earshot.

"Am I ever wrong Wayzz?" The old man replies, almost chuckling at how easy it had been to slip the box in her basket when she wasn't looking.

* * *

Valentine decided it was worth trying to keep herself busy. Instead, she changes into her pajamas and digs through her cupboard until she finds what she's looking for. After pouring herself a glass of water Valentine takes three of the sleeping pills and puts them back in the cupboard.

She turns to head to her bedroom but stops when she sees a small brown box on the kitchen bench. She puts her glass down and walks over to it. Without hesitating, she opens the box and a flash of red light shines out, making her close her eyes for a second. When she opens them a giant red bug is staring back at her.

"Hello, my name i-"

" _What the fuck_?"


	2. Chapter Two

"It's okay, I do not want to harm you. I'm Tikki, your kwami." The red thing speaks, dodging Valentine's boot which is desperately trying to stomp on the kwami. "Abby, everything is alright?"

Valentine pauses, a frown appearing on her features, "Who's Abby?"

"Abby Delon? Is that not your name?" The kwami asks, flying up until she is inches away from Valentine's face.

"No?"

"Oh no. We must speak to master Fu immediately. Let's go!" Tikki begins to fly in the direction of the door but stops when she realizes that Valentine was not following her.

Valentine remained in the same spot with her arms folded, "Alright, listen here big head. I've already changed into my pajamas, I am not leaving this apartment."

"You don't understand, all of Paris depends on this we must go now!" Tikki urges, trying to open the door knob but not being able to due to her size.

"I'll make you a deal. I'll tape your little box thing to you and let you out the window, so you can go wherever it is you need to be." Valentine explains, searching through the drawers before pulling out a roll of duct tape.

"No!" Tikki flies into the duct tape at top speed, making it fall out of Valentine's hand who replies by groaning loudly.

"This is getting annoying. I took roughly four sleeping pills and they're starting to kick in so I'm going to go to bed. When I wake up I want you gone." Valentine grabs her mug off of the kitchen bench and begins to retreat to her room.

"Please listen to me!" Tikki tries to fly in front of Valentine's face but is swatted away.

Valentine pauses for a second, "Oh and leave the box. Those earrings are cute."

With that, she walks into her bedroom and slams the door shut right on Tikki's face.

* * *

The morning light is almost blinding when Valentine's bedroom curtains are ripped open.

"Good morning!" A voice comes from the direction of the window.

Valentine lets out the loudest groan she physically can as the kwami from last night comes right up to her face.

"You're still here?" Valentine groans, sitting up and swatting Tikki away from her face.

"You must hurry, we have to see Master Fu before school!"

"If we see him, will you leave?" The redhead sits up and rubs her eyes then looks at Tikki.

"Hopefully!"

"That hurt my feelings."

0000

After getting dressed Valentine stood in the kitchen as she waited for her coffee to finish dripping.

"I never got your name," Tikki comments as she sits on the bench.

Although she would never say it, the red-headed girl was starting to like Tikki's company. It was nice to not be alone.

"It's Valentine but you can call me Val."

"That's a pretty nam- what are you doing!" Tikki exclaims as Valentine takes a sip of coffee, straight out of the pot.

"I'm always tired. Which by the way, how am I meant to save Paris?" Valentine questions, "I'm seventeen, I don't have the time to be going to go out of my way to save Paris. I'm still trying to pass high school. What happened to the old Ladybug anyway?"

"She moved to New York to achieve her dreams of becoming a fashion designer. She was seventeen just like you."

Valentine rolls her eyes at Tikki's last sentence and finishes drinking her coffee, "Whatever, let's go see your little pal."

0

"Master Fu!" Tikki exclaims, appearing out of Valentine's backpack as soon as she shut the door.

"Ah, you must be Valentine." The old man tries to get up but falters. Valentine rushes over to him and loops his arm over her shoulder.

"Thank you, dear." As soon as he was firmly on his feet he looks up at Valentine who gasps loudly, recognizing him from the night before.

"Great guardian, I believe there has been a mix up with the miraculous," Tikki explains before Valentine can say anything.

"But Tikki I do not make mistakes."

"With all due respect, Valentine is not hero material." Valentine gasps at Tikki's words, though she knew it was true, it still hurt to be said out loud.

"That was rude, but homegirls got a point. I get dizzy every time I stand. Do you really want that fighting crime?" The redhead adds to Tikki's protest.

Master Fu takes Valentine's hands in his.

"I know you put up a tough exterior, but you have a heart of gold." Master Fu explains, handing the earrings back to the redhead then lets go of her hands.

"I really appreciate this, but my mother is quite sick and I really can't be out gallivanting in the streets every night." Valentine tries to give them back but Master Fu shakes his head.

"You're capable of more than you think." Master Fu releases her hands.

"Please, you're making a big mistake." Valentine tries, but Master Fu just shook his head and sat back down.

"Keep them for a week. if you decide you still don't want them, I will take them back. No questions asked."

Valentine accepts the fact that there was no point arguing and nods, putting the earring and Tikki in her backpack.

"Good girl. Now I believe you must go, school starts in five minutes." Master Fu ushers her out of the door.

"Shit!"


	3. Chapter Three

Valentine sprints through the streets of Paris, barely knowing where she was going. From inside her backpack, Tikki was trying to give directions as best as she could but her partner was apparently unable to tell the difference between left and right.

"Just take the next left up here and we'll be at the school."

Valentine looks at her phone and sighs in relief, she was only five minutes late.

After entering two wrong classrooms Valentine finally finds her own. She tries to open the door as quietly as she can, but her attempts are futile as the door lets out a loud squeak.

Everybody in the classroom turns their attention to Valentine whose face was as red as her hair.

"Valentine Rodriguez, you're late." Ms. Bustier says in lieu of a greeting.

She looked at Valentine for an excuse, but Valentine just stared at her shoes.

"Since it is your first day I will let the lateness go unpunished but if this happens again there will be consequences, am I clear miss Rodriguez?"

"Yes."

"Thank you, you may take a seat next to Adrien."

* * *

Adrien had been watching the clock ever since Ms. Bustier announced that there would be a new student joining them today. Nino had switched seats to sit next to Alya after Marinette left for New York. While he wasn't mad at Nino he was upset that he had to sit at an empty desk, that was until today.

Adrien was secretly glad that he would no longer be the new student. Though no one referred to him as that he always felt as though it further isolated him from the others. Despite everyone making an effort to always include him, the strictness of his father and his celebrity status made him constantly aware of how different he was compared to everyone else.

It was seven minutes past nine when the classroom door finally opened revealing a girl with fiery red hair. He tried to analyze the look on her face, but she just appeared jaded. She wore a white tank top tucked into blue jeans and a light brown cardigan that had fallen down to her elbows. The thing that caught his eye most was her too big faded black high-top sneakers, there was writing he could not make out on the white soles of the shoes. Her laces had been dirtied to a dark grey color and had been wrapped around the tops of her shoes to make sure that they didn't fall. They looked so old and clearly were not her size, he couldn't help but wonder why she was wearing them?

Adrien snapped out of his thoughts when he heard his name.

"Which one is Adrien?" She asked, her tone matched her bored facial expression.

The blonde boy raises his hand and she remains in the door frame for a solid five seconds before walking up to the desk and sitting as far away from him as possible.

"I'm Adrien Agreste." Adrien holds his hand out for her to shake but she either doesn't see or chooses to ignore it.

"Sounds familiar." She mumbles unenthusiastically.

"You might have heard of my dad, Gabriel Agreste."

"Don't think so, who's he?" She doesn't even turn to look at Adrien when she speaks to him.

"He's a fashion designer." Alya butts in from behind them.

For the first time since she sat down, Valentine turns her head to face Adrien, quietly she looks him up and down (avoiding eye contact) before mumbling, "And he let you leave the house wearing that?"

There was a collective gasp heard from both Alya and Nino who snapped their heads towards Adrien to hear his response.

Adrien lets out a laugh and tugs at the blue jacket that fit him almost too snugly, "It's his new collection. He wanted something bold."

Valentine doesn't reply, she just turns her head to the front and pulls out a notebook.

Adrien frowns again, he had not seen someone in the class use pen and paper the whole time he had been at the school. Apparently, he was not the only one who noticed.

"Oh my God! The new girl's poor!" Chloe exclaims through a fit of laughter, "She doesn't even have good pens!"

Adrien watched as the red-headed girl pretended to be unbothered, but he could see her digging her nails into her palms.

"Chloe, that's not very nice," Adrien speaks up, causing Chloe to pout.

"I was just joking Adrikins. It understands." Though her tone was playful her use of 'it' was clearly a direct attack on the new girl.

"My name's Valentine." The redhead still refuses to look up from her paper.

"I know, I just choose not to use it. I don't usually hang around with your kind." Chloe snarks.

Valentine's hands gripped at the desk and Adrien noticed the new girl begin to shake ever so slightly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" The red head's tone was challenging but Chloe had never been the type to back down.

Chloe moved closer to the new girl, "Scum."

"Chloe that's enough!" Adrien yells, causing the classroom to erupt in either shocked gasps or fits of laughter as Chloe sinks into her seat.

Valentine remained silent.

* * *

Lunchtime couldn't have come soon enough, Valentine practically sprinted out of the classroom when the bell rang. She only stopped when she was at least three blocks away from the school. The redhead flopped onto a nearby bench and unzips her backpack, Tikki quickly ducks out then hides between the backpack so she cannot be viewed if anyone was to walk past.

"I hated everyone Tikki. Why are they all so horrible?" Valentine sighs as she looks up at the sky.

Tikki moves so she can lean on Valentine's hands, "Val, maybe you weren't the nicest person to them either."

"Listen Tikki, I don't plan on staying in Paris very long. I don't really need friends. Once the doctors cure mom, I can leave. Everything will be fine once I move back to Saint-Malo."

"But what if that doesn't happen? What if she doesn't get better?"

"She will." Valentine snaps, moving her hand away from Tikki.

The kwami goes silent for a minute before speaking up again, "I'm sorry."

There was an awkward silence before Valentine sighs, "Well I've got to stop putting it off. Let's go Tikki."

"Where are we going?" Tikki asks, making her way into Valentine's backpack.

"To see my mom."


End file.
